Under the bright sun, by the blue sea, on the white beach, the two of them were sitting casually side by side. The girl was leaning her head on the boy's shoulder, quietly looking into the distance. To onlookers, they were also a scene.
However, this harmonious, tranquil, and timeless scene, which Jinling and the others were reluctant to spoil, and which was a little fresh and enviable, was broken after a while. Wearing a pair of newly bought sandals, Hui Hui ran over while shouting 'Brother Ping'. Her brother-in-law and sister-in-law were standing on the boardwalk along the beach. 'My father is almost here. We are going to the airport. Hui Hui said she wanted to come find pretty sister, so I'll leave him with you.'
'Okay, don't worry, I'll take good care of him.'
Hui Hui sat on his lap and asked Huang Jingping, who had just been startled by him, 'Sister, shall we go build a castle?'
'Yes!' Huang Jingping stopped looking at the sea, took his hand, and walked towards the wetter part of the beach.
Such a cute and powdery little guy, who knows a little bit about things, is already very cute, and when he deliberately tries to be even cuter, he is just irresistible.
However, their level of building castles was really poor, so Feng Yiping, a master of playing with mud and water when he was a child, had to step in.
The three of them worked together and finally managed to build something passable, similar to a beacon tower on the Great Wall. Hui Hui's interest had now shifted again. He had just dug up a seashell in the sand, and now he was looking for shells on the beach with his head down and bottom up!
Huang Jingping rubbed her hand mischievously a few times on Feng Yiping's arm, looked at the cute Hui Hui over there, and asked a question, 'Do you like boys or girls?'
I don't know if she was thinking about the future or was influenced by the two little arguments at noon, and now she asked such a question.
'This is actually not a problem for me, whether it's a boy or a girl, I like them both. But starting a family with two people is actually not a matter of two people. Considering the opinions of adults, I think it would be better if the first one is a boy, what do you think?'
'I hope so too,' Huang Jingping said, smiling at him.
What Feng Yiping had said was the truth, and Huang Jingping, who had also grown up in the countryside, could understand it.
Although family planning was taken very seriously, and in some places it could even be said to be taken very harshly, in the villages below, slogans such as "having a boy or a girl is the same, a daughter is also carrying on the family line" could be seen everywhere. Even just now, Mei Qiuying had said that a son or a daughter was just as good, but in the countryside, there were still many people who hoped that their offspring would be a boy.
It doesn't matter to young couples, but parents definitely do care.
For example, Mei Qiuping is very happy with Huang Jingping at the moment, but if Huang Jingping marries Feng Yiping and has a daughter as her first child, it is expected that their relationship will be affected, and Huang Jingping's parents will be disappointed, which will put pressure on Huang Jingping.
If the second child is also a daughter, the conflict will definitely become public, and the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will definitely be difficult.
In this regard, Huang Jingping, who has only one younger sister, has a deeper understanding than Feng Yiping, so she agrees with Feng Yiping's honest words.
There really is no discrimination or old-fashioned thinking such as son preference here, it is just the reality now and for decades to come. The country has put so much effort into changing it, but it cannot be changed, and neither can Feng Yiping.
'It's not as if our elders have outdated ideas. You have to understand them. They've always been in the countryside, and the issue of passing on the family name is actually not very important now. The key is the issue of supporting the elderly. For a long time now and in the future, these elderly people in the countryside will have to rely on their sons to support them when they can no longer work. Don't you agree?'
'Yes, you don't need to say more, I understand.'
Many people say that when it comes to rural people's stubborn desire to have a son, they are ignorant, backward, and old-fashioned. In fact, they really haven't put themselves in the shoes of the peasants. Even if society is generally wealthier than it is now in a decade or so, by that time, even in cities where there are welfare benefits from birth and a pension system in place, the elderly will still have problems with their pensions. What can those elderly people in the countryside without sons rely on for their old age?
Rely on the government? In a decade or so, the highest subsidy recipients in the countryside will be those destitute households, with less than 100 yuan per capita per month. Rely on society? A few baskets of vegetables and a load of rice – neighbours will give a hand out of goodwill a few times, but over time, who will still be willing to do so?
Rely on your daughter? This is more reliable. But even if you have a good son-in-law, your daughter and son-in-law also have elderly parents to support. In the countryside, it is impossible for a family to take in their parents-in-law and support them unless you don't want to live a peaceful life.
There are many cases in the countryside where couples fall out over their parents' problems.
So just like the eldest brother in the family of the second uncle, rural people who must have a son are actually based on very realistic considerations.
In this regard, those who make the greatest sacrifices for the national policy of family planning are once again the farmers, who are already having a hard time and have always been at the bottom of the food chain.
Feng Yiping joked, 'Why don't we get ready to have a baby now, while we're still young, and have a whole class of them? I've heard that in the south of the clouds, in a county along the Tropic of Cancer, there are plenty of twins. There's a Twin Well there, and if you drink the water from there, you can have twins. Why don't we go live there for a while?
Feng Yiping ran while he spoke, because Huang Jingping, with a flushed face, was grabbing sand and throwing it at him. What was infuriating was that Hui Hui, who didn't understand the situation, also stood on her side and threw sand at Feng Yiping.
Having known him since childhood, this guy will definitely be the type of person who forgets his parents when he sees a pretty girl.
'Hui Hui,' someone called out from the side, finally liberating Feng Yiping. It turned out to be Lao Cai, who had arrived and was smiling and looking over here.
'Grandpa,' Hui Hui called out, running over to him. Huang Jingping didn't want to bully Feng Yiping either, so she glared at him and went over to say hello to Lao Cai. They had met Lao Cai during the summer vacation in Shenzhen, so they were considered acquaintances.
'What did you do wrong?' his brother-in-law asked with a smile.
Feng Yiping felt aggrieved. He really hadn't done anything wrong!
At 3:00 p.m., with Zhou Xinyu arriving with his wife, everyone finally gathered. There was still an activity this afternoon, and they were going to climb Phoenix Mountain in the city.
It is the highest peak in the city and the highest point from which you can see the whole city. Watching the sunset there is also quite a special experience.
Because it is located in the city, it has long been developed into a park with complete facilities. There is a cable car to the top, which is very convenient.
However, the company has arranged for everyone to climb up the mountain today on a narrow footpath that is only one metre wide and with few passers-by. After resting on the mountain, they will still return the same way down and go back to the hotel for dinner.
To put it bluntly, this is actually a group activity. Now that these management members of the company are unfamiliar with each other, for example, Jin Ling, who is about to become the general manager, is only familiar with Feng Yiping, Zhou Xinyu and Gao Zhiyi, and speaks little to the others, including his brother-in-law.
Feng Yiping wanted to let everyone get used to each other in this way, so that the team from the head office would not seem to have dropped in from the sky.
He had originally wanted to find an outward bound training camp, but outward bound training was not yet very common at the time. He found a few, but the programmes were only for young people who had just started work, and were not suitable for Feng Yiping's team.
The original plan was for the two old men, Lao Cai and Grandpa, to stay in the hotel. However, not only did Lao Cai disagree, but Grandpa also disagreed. Lao Cai said, 'I haven't planned to retire yet, I just want to spend more time with you young people.'
Grandpa said, 'A hill of 400 metres or so, is that really a big deal? The hill I usually go to cut firewood is higher than that.'
Fine, let's go together then!
ps: It's the start of the school year, and today I took my son to kindergarten. He dragged me along and we ran around the standard running track at the nearby primary school. It's only 400 metres, and we jogged, too. After we finished running, I felt as if I'd just finished an exam of 1,500 metres. My throat was as dry as the Sahara, my legs felt weak from walking, and I felt as if I was floating. And for the first time in my life, I clearly felt that even for a short jog, it is better to wear sports shoes. At that moment, I felt a little sad, thinking to myself, am I really not young anymore? I really miss the days when I could go anywhere in just one pair of shoes.